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(No Model.)

H. F. HICKS. OAR.

No 408,48 2.. Patented Aug. 6, 1889.

INVENTOR:

BY mg A TTORIVEYS;

'in Fig. 1.

UNITED STATES PATENT FFICE.

IIORATIO F. HICKS, OF ASHLAND, OREGON.

OAR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 408,482, dated August 6, 1889 Application filed February 7, 1889. Serial No. 298,956. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HORATIO F. HICKS, of Ashland, in the county of Jackson and State of Oregon, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Oars, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to oars both for rowing and sculling, purposes, and in which the blade of the oar is made of metal, while the loom or handle is madeof Wood, as usual; also in which theblade, that is of curved or dish shape, is longitudinally grooved to re ceive the outer end portion of the handle within it, and the blade is or may be further secured to the handle by entering it within a kerf made in the handle.

The invention consists in an oar of-this description of novel construction andin which the longitudinal groove or channel in the blade is made on the convex side of the latter and the blade is corrugated or ribbed on its surface, substantially as hereinafter described, and pointed out in the claims.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure lrepresents a broken longitudinal View of the oar from the convex side of the blade with its handle set angling relatively to the blade; Fig. 2, a longitudinal section of the same upon the line 00 so in Fig. 1, and Fig. 3 a transverse section upon the line y y Fig. 4: is a longitudinal view of the blade from the concave side with its longitudinal channel or groove for reception of the handle in a straight instead of in an oblique direction relatively to the blade.

A is the metal blade, which is preferably made of spring sheet-steel, and is of curved or dish shape on its face, and is further constructed on its convex surface with a longitudinal channel or groove Z), that forms or leaves a correspondingly-arranged longitudinal rib upon the concave side of the blade. This channel 1) serves to receive within it the inner end part of the handle B or one side portion thereof, and may be arranged to run either in an oblique direction with the length of the blade, as shown more clearly in Fig. 1, or in a straight direction relatively thereto, as shown in Fig. 4, accordingly as it is desired to set the handle angling or straight with the blade. The inner end part of the blade may be fitted to enter within a kerf in the handle. Furthermore, said blade is constructed with corrugations c on its face from or near the channel b to the edges of the blade and in angling relation to said channel preferably with the salient surfaces of the corrugations on the convex or same side as the channel 7). The blade and handle may then be fastened together by wire wraps (Z or otherwise. By this construction I am enabled to employ a very thin steel spring-blade, fairly springy, but of superior strength and less weight than a wooden blade. It Will also be less liable to break than a wooden one, and may be made cheaply by stamping out the metal of which the blade is composed. The longitudinal channel on the convex side of the blade, forming a stiffened rib on the concave side thereof, not only constitutes a ready means for connecting the blade with the handle, but materially stiffens the blade, and the angling corrugations on the surface of the blade very importantly add to the strength of the latter, both as compared with oars having wooden blades and others having metal blades with a simple longitudinal channel, for instance, on the concave side of the blade. My improved oar, too, will dip into and leave the water at the end of the stroke with perfect ease.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In oars having metal blades, the metal blade of dish shape on its face, constructed with a longitudinal channel adapted to receive the handle within it on its convex side, said channel forming a correspondingly-arranged rib on the reverse or concave side of the blade, substantially as specified.

2. A metal oar-blade provided with corrugations on its face, said corrugations being at an angle relatively to the longitudinal axis of the blade, substantially as shown and gations on opposite sides of said channel ardescribed. ranged angling in relation with the channel,

3. A metal oar-blade of dish shape on its essentially as shown and described. face, constructed with a longitudinal ehan- HORATIO F. HICKS. 5 nel in its convex side, forming or leaving a Witnesses:

correspondingly-arranged rib upon its reverse G. F. BILLINGS, or concave side, and with transverse corru- \V. S. GORE. 

